DEER. 
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well as on the Continent, where its range extends from Italy in the south to Russia 
in the north. That the Irish deer lived within the human period is proved by the 
occurrence of its remains in association with stone implements. It has, indeed, 
been considered that the word Schellc, which occurs in the Nibelungenlied of the 
13th century, refers to the Irish deer, but Prof. Nehring is of opinion that it more 
probably means either an elk or a wild stallion. 
The Irish deer differs considerably from the fallow deer in the form and 
direction of its antlers, but a connecting link between them is found in Ruff’s 
deer (C. ruffi), from the superficial deposits of Germany, which was of somewhat 
inferior dimensions to the former. In Ruff’s deer the antlers are directed upwards 
and outwards nearly after the fashion obtaining in the fallow deer, while the plane 
of the palmated portion is placed in the same longitudinal direction as in the latter. 
Moreover, the terminal snags are shorter and inclined more inwardly than in the 
Irish deer, but the flattened and expanded form of the brow-tine indicates a closer 
connection with the latter. 
The Muntjacs. 
Genus Cervulus. 
The small Asiatic deer, commonly known as muntjacs, differ so decidedly from 
all those hitherto noticed that they are referred to a distinct genus. They are 
distinguished from all the members of the genus Cervus by their short, simple, two- 
tined antlers being mounted on pedicles of the skull, which are as long or longer 
than the antlers themselves, and diverge from the middle line of the lower part of 
the forehead, where they commence as rib-like bars. From this feature these 
animals are often spoken of as rib-faced deer. The brow-tine of the antlers is short 
and directed upwards, while the tip of the undivided beam is more or less inclined 
inwards. The skull has a very large depression for the reception of the gland 
below the eye ; and the bucks are furnished with long projecting tusks in the upper 
jaw. The lateral toes are peculiar in that they consist of only the hoofs, without 
any trace of the bones of the digits themselves. 
